Five Reasons You Should Absolutely Play Hogwarts Legacy

We’re just a couple of weeks away from the arrival of WB Games’ Hogwarts Legacy, which will allow players to dive into the world of Harry Potter on their own terms.
The game looks splendid, but it’s not without its drama. Several advocates have gone after gamers and streamers looking to purchase the game, mainly because of the involvement of J.K. Rowling. Let’s just say she hasn’t said nice things in the past. But are they taking things to extremes? Sure looks that way. And the reason for that simple –Hogwarts Legacy has a lot to great content going for it. And we’re going to cover five reasons why you should play it.

Simon Pegg Is the Headmaster!
One would think we answer to Dumbledore in this game. But that isn’t the case. Instead, the Headmaster is Phineas Nigellus Black, who is related to long-time series favorite Sirius Black. And for this role, WB Games didn’t bring in just any regular ol’ actor. Instead, it enlisted Simon Pegg, a talented actor who’s starred in a number of great things over
the years, including the modern Star Trek trilogy, as well as the Cornetto films from Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, folks) and even The Boys over on Amazon. As you can see from the video below, he’s excited to take on the role, and his guidance will help (or maybe hinder?) your way through the school of Hogwarts. There will be other awesome talent involved with the game as well, but it’s nice to know we’ll have a familiar voice keep things going at the school.

It’s Not Just the Same Old Story
One really neat aspect about Hogwarts Legacy is that it’s different each time you play. Sure, you get to select your wizard and take them through the school and across the grounds. But what’s great is that we can change the destiny of this character simply by a few interactions.
This includes talking with non-playable characters, including a few familiar faces; as well as your classmates and other types. You can actually make friends with folks, or go all Slytherin on them and see how far you can get away with it. This opens up an abundance of side quests throughout the game, changing your destiny based on your choices. And what’s more, even after you complete one, you can go through and do it all over again. Now that’s the stuff of magic.

The Spells, Man, The Spells
One really cool thing about Hogwarts Legacy are the number of spells that you’ll be able to learn throughout your journey. Sure, there’s basic stuff that will help you in combat scenarios, but there are also more complex ones that will help you over the course of the more challenging missions within this world.
In fact, over 20 spells are available in all, just waiting to be mastered and assigned to your character however you see fit. They don’t just execute with a button press either. You actually have to master gestures, just like the characters in the films master the wording so they don’t screw anything up.
Wizarding ain’t easy, we’ve learned, but Hogwarts Legacy makes it fun. And what’s more, you can pick and choose your favorite spells to guide your would-be wizard even further!

There’s Serious Talent Behind the Game
Some people are dismissing Hogwarts Legacy simply because it’s based around the world that J.K. Rowling created. But take a closer look and you’ll see a devoted development team that’s actually brought a magnificent amount of talent.
The team behind Hogwarts Legacy is none other than Avalanche Software. Not to be confused with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios. They’ve been around for some time, starting with the SNES and Genesis ports of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy and eventually moving on to much bigger fare. Before working on Hogwarts, the team worked with Disney for several years, starting with the groundbreaking adventure Toy Story 3 and continuing with the Disney Infinity games, featuring innovative toy-to-life tech that many people still collect, despite the series being discontinued years ago. The last game they worked on was Cars 3: Driven To Win, a neat tie-in with the Disney/Pixar film.
With that kind of talent, Avalanche understands what’s needed to make a licensed game of this caliber work. And it truly shows.

Did We Mention the Game Was Heckin’ Beautiful?!
We’ve seen Harry Potter games in the past that have tried to capture the magic of the films, only for the software to kind of leave them a little short. But that problem is long gone with
Hogwarts Legacy, as it simply looks stunning based on what we’ve seen thus far. The open world is a vast one, with hours’ worth of exploration, as well as tons of secrets to find.
And you can catch an eyeful of amazing views as well, since everything surrounding Hogwarts is just as beautiful as you’d expect. Not to mention it’ll look even better on Xbox Series S/X and PS5, with its next-gen software. (Don’t worry, Switch owners, you’ll get your chance sometime this year.)
The gameplay trailer gives you a better idea of what to expect – and yeah, it’s a doozy. The fact that some people are going to miss out on this due to personal choice makes you wonder if maybe they should give it a second look. Remember, there’s another team that’s worked painstakingly hard to bring this world to life, and to give them a cold shoulder just doesn’t seem fair.

Hogwarts Legacy releases on February 10 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X; and will debut on Nintendo Switch later this year. Don’t let anyone get in the way of your dreams of being a wizard, Harry.

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